Isambard Kingdom Brunel, (born April 9, 1806, Portsmouth, Hampshire, England—died September 15, 1859, Westminster, London), British civil and mechanical engineer of great originality who designed the first transatlantic steamer.
The only son of the engineer and inventor Sir Marc Isambard Brunel, he was appointed resident engineer when work on the Thames Tunnel began, under his father’s direction, in 1825. He held the post until 1828, when a sudden inundation seriously injured him and brought the tunnel work to a standstill that financial problems stretched to seven years. While recuperating, he prepared designs for a suspension bridge over the Avon Gorge in Bristol, England, one of which was ultimately adopted in the construction of the Clifton Suspension Bridge (1830–63) in preference to a design by the noted Scottish engineer Thomas Telford.
